“Oh, baby.” I went over and lay by his side, resting my head on his arm.
My heart did flips as he rolled to face me, resting his other arm across my hip. Micah was fresh from the shower—enveloping me in a cloud of apples and honey. I was less than in the mood to have sex five doors down from the room where I walked into a new and terrible nightmare, but damned if a part of me wasn’t still wishing for a can of lager and Micah’s naughty, searching tongue.
“I’m so sorry, but it sounds like that guy was right. Average people who suddenly come into massive windfalls have a hard time hiding it. If aroundthem is where he’ll be lurking around, your investigators can get there in time to take him down.”
“That’s the plan.”
I stroked his cheek. “But why didn’t you tell me any of this? The last few days, I’ve been low-key wondering if you killed my mother to settle the fight.”
Micah laughed. “That’s nuts, and wildly short-sighted on my part. Until literally right now, I had no way of knowing if your mother was packing a few extra billions in her bank account, and no way of knowing if you’d tell me if she did. For all I knew, that’s why you suddenly had a change of heart about the divorce and wanted us to send you off with pocket change.”
“So you didn’t tell me because you didn’t trust me?” I asked. “But at that point, you knew my mother had nothing to do with the scam? How did trust even come into it?”
Micah shook his head. “Trust absolutely came into it. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t trust you not to be nasty about it,” he said to my shocked expression. “I could already hear you laughing at me, sayingI told you so, and once again calling my parents a bunch of gullible dumbasses. Finding out that we were just one of many marks wasn’t going to spark any sympathy in you... or so I thought. You’ve really changed, haven’t you.”
A tender, stroking finger caressed my forehead. “Amazing what a bump on the head can do.”
My smile didn’t reach my eyes. “I did walk away from that accident that morning believing I was meant for a new start. But now? Everything’s just so fucked, Micah, and I don’t know what to do.”
“You can stop trying to do everything by yourself for one.”
“What do you mean?” I propped up on my elbow. “Are you talking about settling Omma’s estate? Because I don’t want to do that by myself. You can absolutely help me.”
“No, I’m talking about you trying to find Omma and Mrs. Prado’s killer.” He saw the look on my face. “Alex overheard you shouting at Davis. I know you’re not going to stop until you get the truth—and I’m not telling you to,” he rushed out when I opened my mouth. “But this doesn’t work, Sue. You need information only the cops have, and you’re not going to get it making an enemy out of every single one you come across.”
“Argh!” I flung back, adopting the same hands-on-face position Micah did. “I know, I know. He just pissed me off so much because Iknowhe agrees with me. He knows Courtney didn’t do this and the missing bloody clothes are important, but he’s not going to do anything about it, because he’s a shit-his-pants coward. How is that not supposed to piss me off!”
“It pisses me off too. Especially because they were fucking lazy. After they found the knife in Thorne’s bag, they stopped all the interviews and I never got to tell them that there was an eleventh person who went upstairs that night,” he dropped on my head like a ton of bricks. “Someone who wasn’t in the ballroom the next morning. Someone they missed.”
“Excuse me?” I flipped over, jumping on him and tearing a grunt from his chest. “What are you talking about?”
“There was another person wandering around our house instead of at the party where they should’ve been,” he said. “Dad’s gout was flaring up but that didn’t stop him sucking down the steak, and draining every glass of wine the waiters put in front of him. I went upstairs to get his medicine, and when I came out of their room, I saw a woman whip around the corner. I caught a glimpse of her face, but I did not see that face again the next morning when they gathered us in the ballroom.”
“Meaning they missed someone.” I rocked back on his lap, chest squeezing. “And you’re just telling me this now. What. The. Fuck. Spencer! You and your damn secrets!”
“Whoa, whoa, easy,” he said with a laugh. “It wasn’t a secret, and I’m only bringing it up now to back you up.” Micah grasped my hips. His thumbs slipped under my shirt, rubbing slow circles on my rising goose bumps. “You’re right, they did a terrible job investigating both murders, and you have every right to be mad about it.”
“But why bring it up now?”
He cringed. “I didn’t want to say anything before because it’s a sore subject. I recognized her immediately. It was Dana Finley, Colin Finley’s mother.”
A ringing sounded in my ears—drowning out Micah and my own shouting mind.
“C-Colin’s mother?” I rasped.
“That’sright.” He was still smiling like it was no big deal. “I saw her upstairs but there’s no way she attacked your mom. I mean, why would she? But it does bring up a good question—if she slipped by them unnoticed, who else did?”
I barely heard him, my eyes were searching every twitch of his muscles. My ears obsessed over the slightest inflection of his voice. “Micah.” My voice came from far away. “You’re asking why would she kill my mother? Seriously? How could you possibly believe Dana Finley doesn’t have reason to hate this family?”
“Nah.” He waved that away, widening my eyes. “I’m sure she doesn’t hate your whole family, but that Sarang girl—”
I fell off his lap, stumbling away.
“—she must hate her... for sure...” Micah sat up, squinting at me. “You okay? What’s wrong?”
“Sarang?” I was still breathing, but somehow air wasn’t in my lungs. “You know... about Sarang?”
“What? Of course, I do.” He laughed. “Well, I know what you told me. Sorry, babe, I still don’t remember that year we were all at school together, but”—Micah hissed—“I do remember the day Colin went through the floor. Shit, that was horrible.”
